AIRASSAULT
PMA Member
I've been wanting to put out an update on some pics and what-not of this past season..
As usual, I had a crappy summer running trail cams being that my hunting area consists of primarily doe's and fawn's.. Not to worry though, because generally, every fall, the bucks start showing up in late September and into October. I typically do not get any shooter's on cam until the end of October and sometimes the first couple of days of November, but, like clockwork, they show up (FWIW- I typically have 5-6 cameras hung in an area of about 7 acres
).. Anywho, lets rewind back to May.. I finally started the Dbltree brassica/cereal grain rotation. This plot is about 1/4 acre total and it is within 30 yards of my livingroom windows (fun to watch!) I also planted five rows of RR corn for somewhat of a plot screen to make the deer feel a little more compfortable.
This pic shows the corn and oats/clover mix to the left. Shortly after I took this photo, I sprayed RU on the corn and was devastated when it all turned brown and darn near fell to the ground, so, I planted rows inbetween my rows.. which turned out to be a mistake because the stuff I planted first came out of it and I ended up with to much crowding.
While the spring/summer progressed, I took plenty of opportunities to do some fishing, mushroom hunting and turkey hunting.
We were catching 'gills like this nearly every cast but only kept about a dozen bull's and released all of the spawning females.
Later in the summer, the Cedar River got so low that you couldn't make it up or down in a normal boat. Luckily, one of my co-workers had just bought a brandnew Excel jon boat with the biggest Mudbuddy motor you can get. That thing was awesome! We were able to get to a lot of un-fished water and caught the heck out of channel cats. Here is a cooler with 21 good eater's.
In July, I sprayed and killed the oats and mowed off and planted my brassica mix later in the month. (Note: I have a hydrant within 200ft of my plot. Rain or not, this baby grows!)
Half of my plot is a clover/alfalfa mix.. I took this photo out of my livingroom window.
Although this next photo looks nice and lush, I was waaaaaaaaaaay over on my seeding rate, which, inturn, produced very few turnip and radish bulbs unlike I had last year.... (Note to self: stick to Paul's seeding rates because even though it doesn't seem like it's enough while using a bag spreader, a little bit goes a long ways!)
Even did a little dove hunting. If you haven't had a chance to blast some dove's. You are missing out! My fiance', dad, and I took 43 on this afternoon/evening. We would have had our limit, but it was tough finding those birds in the standing corn next to where we were shooting them.
I think it was the first weekend of bow season, a buddy and I took our kayaks down a small river and hunted some land locked public ground.
Finally, late October came and a shooter showed up. I passed this deer as a four year old last year because he has very short tines and really short g2's. I knew he would make the hitlist this year regardless. Not a huge rack, but he had a big body pre-rut.
The only chance I had at this deer slipped through my fingers on November 17th. I believe it was the same day that the big tornado went through Peroria, Il. We had some pretty nasty weather that morning also, so I decided to take the morning off because of rain and very high winds. My dad and I started trapping this year also, so I was waiting for him to show up so we could go check some traps.. I walked out the back door of my house at about noon and put my dog in her kennel outside. When I came around the corner of the house toward the front, I noticed a doe trotting down my fenceline going toward my front yard where there is a bunch of tall marsh grass. In the back of my mind, I was thinking it would be funny if a buck was chasing her. So, I walked up to the front of my house where my bow was sitting outside and leaned back on the front door and searched for where the doe went. About a minute or two later, I catch movement to my left and was in disbelief as a the buck in the photo above was heading right toward me. So, there I am in my sandals, jeans, and a white hooded sweatshirt, about to get a shot at one of my target bucks. I immediately fling open the lid on the rubbermaid container next to me and pull my release out of my camo pants pocket, grab my bow, and knock an arrow. The buck was closing in fast looking for that hot doe. There was a big evergreen in-between us and I was able to hurry and get about 10 yards out from my front door. I drew and he stopped. I had to kneel down to shoot under some twigs and just as I released, he took off running and my arrow hit way behind him, leaving him un-scathed. He ended up trotting back to the woods and I knew he would stay somewhat close. My dad showed up to check traps, and after telling him what had just happened, I threw all of my howhunting gear on and he went to check the traps himself. I hurried as fast as I could to get to my first stand, which is about 200 yards behind my house. Un-fortunately, I was about 10 minutes late. Almost exactly 15 minutes after I had just missed this buck, he walked right under my stand and stood infront of one of my trailcams, taunting me! I had that cam on video, so you can click below to watch.
I passed a lot of good deer this year.
This next photo is of a buck I had under me four times. He is a four year old I know very well. I'll probably shoot him next fall if he puts on more mass. I have a ton of history with him and some good stories and I would be proud to take him given another year or two to see what he does.
Here is another genetically challenged buck I had right under me and gave a pass to. He had a big body, but very small rack. I wonder how old he was? I sort of regret not shooting him now.
The taunting continues. One morning, while I was watching that four year old 8 point not too far away, this next buck came in from my left and behind me. Although he was 50 yards from me, walked under one of my stands, and infront of two of my trailcams, I never saw him! I always swap cards in my cams after my morning hunts to see what went through at night or on previous days I wasn't hunting. I was shocked to see this buck show up while I was there and maybe could have called him in had I seen him.
The first photo is when he was 50 yards from me. This next photo is just a better pic of him. I would have shot him!
In the midst of all of this rollercoaster bow season, I was also juggling time between that and trapping with my dad. We took the first few days of the season off of work and trapped some promising looking public ground. Even though we were the only ones trapping it, we didn't do as well as we hoped.
We got permission to trap a barn of a farmer whose property I hunt on. We set a bunch of dogproofs up there and got two big sows and one big boar coon. Some how, one of the sows squeezed out this latched door and must have suffocated somehow as she was dead when he found her.
I was trapping around a picked corn field that has a shelter belt through the middle of it full of pine trees. We had caught quite a few coon around this field when the corn was still up. Winter was moving in quickly and it seemed like everytime I wanted to put some dirt hole sets in, it would rain and freeze. I was able to get 4 sets put out and was pleasantly surprised when I checked them the next morning. The first trap I pulled up to, I caught my first ever bobcat; a small female. The next trap, I caught a skunk. The next trap, a prime, top dollar female coyote. The last trap was snapped.. I would say that was a pretty good set-catch percentage!
One day, when we were out checking traps, my dad had brought my Great Grandpas old .22short pump rifle along. I had never fired the rifle before. A rabbit jumped up out of some brush so dad gave me the rifle. I aimed through the old peep site and it felt great to harvest a rabbit with a head shot at 10-15 yards with my first ever shot with my Great Grandpa's old rifle. When I was little, my dad used to tell me stories of G-Grandpa shooting rabbits on the run with that thing. Hopefully, someday it will belong to me..
On opening day of second season shotgun, I was driving by one of my neighbors houses and spotted this button buck stuck in a cattle panel within 20 yards of the house. I knocked on the door and let the neighbor know about it and that I was going to help free it. I took off the wires that were holding the panel up and laid it down and he got right out. I also have a video of it but it didn't come out as planned... (shut up MUDDY)
The biggest buck I saw this year, I unfortunately didn't get a pic of as he vanished just as soon as he appeared chasing a doe. It was a buck I knew from last year and wanted the most this year. He is a 10 pushing 170" and I would have guessed him to be 5 or 6 this year. Last year I had him at about 70yds with a doe about an hour before I shot my 156". Here is a pic of him last year. He has a pretty narrow rack, but he is tall and very massive this year.
Archery season came and went with out harvesting a deer. I had plenty to choose from, but elected to not shoot any does because of population and I wasn't going to shoot a buck that didn't make my heart beat out of my chest. I did miss a 150+ 8 with kickers at 125yds with my muzzelloader after a spot and stalk. I'm still puzzled about that one. I did get some more pics of that 13 that I missed on the 17th at my front door.
This next pic of him was taken on 12/6. Look how much weight he lost since the night pic of him on 10/26. 100% same deer.
Sorry for the long post. I hope you all enjoyed following along. This season was a roller coaster of ups and downs. Although I didn't harvest a deer, it was one of my most successful seasons yet. Thanks for checking it out. Good luck Shed Huntin'!
As usual, I had a crappy summer running trail cams being that my hunting area consists of primarily doe's and fawn's.. Not to worry though, because generally, every fall, the bucks start showing up in late September and into October. I typically do not get any shooter's on cam until the end of October and sometimes the first couple of days of November, but, like clockwork, they show up (FWIW- I typically have 5-6 cameras hung in an area of about 7 acres
).. Anywho, lets rewind back to May.. I finally started the Dbltree brassica/cereal grain rotation. This plot is about 1/4 acre total and it is within 30 yards of my livingroom windows (fun to watch!) I also planted five rows of RR corn for somewhat of a plot screen to make the deer feel a little more compfortable. This pic shows the corn and oats/clover mix to the left. Shortly after I took this photo, I sprayed RU on the corn and was devastated when it all turned brown and darn near fell to the ground, so, I planted rows inbetween my rows.. which turned out to be a mistake because the stuff I planted first came out of it and I ended up with to much crowding.
While the spring/summer progressed, I took plenty of opportunities to do some fishing, mushroom hunting and turkey hunting.
We were catching 'gills like this nearly every cast but only kept about a dozen bull's and released all of the spawning females.
Later in the summer, the Cedar River got so low that you couldn't make it up or down in a normal boat. Luckily, one of my co-workers had just bought a brandnew Excel jon boat with the biggest Mudbuddy motor you can get. That thing was awesome! We were able to get to a lot of un-fished water and caught the heck out of channel cats. Here is a cooler with 21 good eater's.
In July, I sprayed and killed the oats and mowed off and planted my brassica mix later in the month. (Note: I have a hydrant within 200ft of my plot. Rain or not, this baby grows!)
Half of my plot is a clover/alfalfa mix.. I took this photo out of my livingroom window.
Although this next photo looks nice and lush, I was waaaaaaaaaaay over on my seeding rate, which, inturn, produced very few turnip and radish bulbs unlike I had last year.... (Note to self: stick to Paul's seeding rates because even though it doesn't seem like it's enough while using a bag spreader, a little bit goes a long ways!)
Even did a little dove hunting. If you haven't had a chance to blast some dove's. You are missing out! My fiance', dad, and I took 43 on this afternoon/evening. We would have had our limit, but it was tough finding those birds in the standing corn next to where we were shooting them.
I think it was the first weekend of bow season, a buddy and I took our kayaks down a small river and hunted some land locked public ground.
Finally, late October came and a shooter showed up. I passed this deer as a four year old last year because he has very short tines and really short g2's. I knew he would make the hitlist this year regardless. Not a huge rack, but he had a big body pre-rut.
The only chance I had at this deer slipped through my fingers on November 17th. I believe it was the same day that the big tornado went through Peroria, Il. We had some pretty nasty weather that morning also, so I decided to take the morning off because of rain and very high winds. My dad and I started trapping this year also, so I was waiting for him to show up so we could go check some traps.. I walked out the back door of my house at about noon and put my dog in her kennel outside. When I came around the corner of the house toward the front, I noticed a doe trotting down my fenceline going toward my front yard where there is a bunch of tall marsh grass. In the back of my mind, I was thinking it would be funny if a buck was chasing her. So, I walked up to the front of my house where my bow was sitting outside and leaned back on the front door and searched for where the doe went. About a minute or two later, I catch movement to my left and was in disbelief as a the buck in the photo above was heading right toward me. So, there I am in my sandals, jeans, and a white hooded sweatshirt, about to get a shot at one of my target bucks. I immediately fling open the lid on the rubbermaid container next to me and pull my release out of my camo pants pocket, grab my bow, and knock an arrow. The buck was closing in fast looking for that hot doe. There was a big evergreen in-between us and I was able to hurry and get about 10 yards out from my front door. I drew and he stopped. I had to kneel down to shoot under some twigs and just as I released, he took off running and my arrow hit way behind him, leaving him un-scathed. He ended up trotting back to the woods and I knew he would stay somewhat close. My dad showed up to check traps, and after telling him what had just happened, I threw all of my howhunting gear on and he went to check the traps himself
. I hurried as fast as I could to get to my first stand, which is about 200 yards behind my house. Un-fortunately, I was about 10 minutes late. Almost exactly 15 minutes after I had just missed this buck, he walked right under my stand and stood infront of one of my trailcams, taunting me! I had that cam on video, so you can click below to watch.I passed a lot of good deer this year.
This next photo is of a buck I had under me four times. He is a four year old I know very well. I'll probably shoot him next fall if he puts on more mass. I have a ton of history with him and some good stories and I would be proud to take him given another year or two to see what he does.
Here is another genetically challenged buck I had right under me and gave a pass to. He had a big body, but very small rack. I wonder how old he was? I sort of regret not shooting him now.
The taunting continues. One morning, while I was watching that four year old 8 point not too far away, this next buck came in from my left and behind me. Although he was 50 yards from me, walked under one of my stands, and infront of two of my trailcams, I never saw him! I always swap cards in my cams after my morning hunts to see what went through at night or on previous days I wasn't hunting. I was shocked to see this buck show up while I was there and maybe could have called him in had I seen him.
The first photo is when he was 50 yards from me. This next photo is just a better pic of him. I would have shot him!
In the midst of all of this rollercoaster bow season, I was also juggling time between that and trapping with my dad. We took the first few days of the season off of work and trapped some promising looking public ground. Even though we were the only ones trapping it, we didn't do as well as we hoped.
We got permission to trap a barn of a farmer whose property I hunt on. We set a bunch of dogproofs up there and got two big sows and one big boar coon. Some how, one of the sows squeezed out this latched door and must have suffocated somehow as she was dead when he found her.
I was trapping around a picked corn field that has a shelter belt through the middle of it full of pine trees. We had caught quite a few coon around this field when the corn was still up. Winter was moving in quickly and it seemed like everytime I wanted to put some dirt hole sets in, it would rain and freeze. I was able to get 4 sets put out and was pleasantly surprised when I checked them the next morning. The first trap I pulled up to, I caught my first ever bobcat; a small female. The next trap, I caught a skunk. The next trap, a prime, top dollar female coyote. The last trap was snapped.. I would say that was a pretty good set-catch percentage!
One day, when we were out checking traps, my dad had brought my Great Grandpas old .22short pump rifle along. I had never fired the rifle before. A rabbit jumped up out of some brush so dad gave me the rifle. I aimed through the old peep site and it felt great to harvest a rabbit with a head shot at 10-15 yards with my first ever shot with my Great Grandpa's old rifle. When I was little, my dad used to tell me stories of G-Grandpa shooting rabbits on the run with that thing. Hopefully, someday it will belong to me..
On opening day of second season shotgun, I was driving by one of my neighbors houses and spotted this button buck stuck in a cattle panel within 20 yards of the house. I knocked on the door and let the neighbor know about it and that I was going to help free it. I took off the wires that were holding the panel up and laid it down and he got right out. I also have a video of it but it didn't come out as planned... (shut up MUDDY
)
The biggest buck I saw this year, I unfortunately didn't get a pic of as he vanished just as soon as he appeared chasing a doe. It was a buck I knew from last year and wanted the most this year. He is a 10 pushing 170" and I would have guessed him to be 5 or 6 this year. Last year I had him at about 70yds with a doe about an hour before I shot my 156". Here is a pic of him last year. He has a pretty narrow rack, but he is tall and very massive this year.
Archery season came and went with out harvesting a deer. I had plenty to choose from, but elected to not shoot any does because of population and I wasn't going to shoot a buck that didn't make my heart beat out of my chest. I did miss a 150+ 8 with kickers at 125yds with my muzzelloader after a spot and stalk. I'm still puzzled about that one. I did get some more pics of that 13 that I missed on the 17th at my front door.
This next pic of him was taken on 12/6. Look how much weight he lost since the night pic of him on 10/26. 100% same deer.
Sorry for the long post. I hope you all enjoyed following along. This season was a roller coaster of ups and downs. Although I didn't harvest a deer, it was one of my most successful seasons yet. Thanks for checking it out. Good luck Shed Huntin'!
